I take it that we are all posting from the standpoint that 'essential' only means that the body is unable to synthesise its own O3 and 6, rather than it being ' essential' for life?? Seems like the word is being used interchangeably her

Um...I wasn't aware that grains were high in fat, much less omega 6s. If you must get the dreaded omega 6 from food, nuts are a much better source of it.

100 calories of brown rice has 260mg, wheat flour has 230mg which isn't much, so why is the standard diet high in 6's? Is it just the canola oil and similar oils? So why do we avoid grains then apart from the glucose?

Originally Posted by picklepete

Omega-6 requirement is extremely low (<1g I think) and as far as I know has only been observed in tube-fed patients using old/bad mixtures that contain none.

according to nutrition textbook males over 30 need 17g and females 12g.

Originally Posted by ChocoTaco369

I don't believe omega 6 or omega 3 are essential fatty acids. I don't believe there to be any essential fatty acids and human beings could subsist on a 0 fat diet just like they can on a 0 carb diet. The study that claimed PUFA's were essential that was conducted many decades ago was later debunked - it turned out to be a B vitamin deficiency brought on by the 0 fat diet. Since B vitamins are incidental to meats, simply supplementing with B vitamins corrected the issue. That hasn't stopped the seed oil industry from spreading EFA lies, though. Omega 6, omega 3, the less the better I say.

Fats can be synthesized in the body just like glucose can be. Technically, all you need to consume is protein. The glucose your brain needs can be synthesized from the amino acids, and the fats you need can be synthesized from the glucose. Of course, it's ideal to eat both fat AND carbohydrate and not force your body to convert, but I'm simply making the case that the body can generally synthesize what it needs. People taking fish oil supplements to "balance their n3 : n6 ratio" are really just ingesting rancid varnish.

Don't put your trust in anyone on this forum, including me. You are the key to your own success.

I glanced at this post because a couple months back, I saw something on Paleohacks about LA deficiency posted by one of the more involved members (Travis Culp), but I never saw any references. I'd always heard that omega-6 was the devill more or less, so I wanted to see something to back up Travis's claims before I started eating nuts by the handful or whatever.

This is all finely said ... but between what you believe, or think had been debunked a long time ago, and a reference to some study, there is quite a gap. Not that I disagree with you but a pointer to some ref would be nice.

By the way, a 0 fat diet is IMPOSSIBLE. Even fruits and plants have fat. If you eat like this crazy dude that ingests 30 bananas a day, you get your fat

I realize a 0 fat diet is impossible for us, but it can be done in a laboratory setting. When they do these rat studies, they basically feed them refined oils and sugars fortified with vitamins and minerals.

That's how they skew these "high fat diet = heart disease" studies. They take refined soybean oil, crush up vitamins in it, feed it to rats, they get atherosclerosis and put on body fat and they proclaim "high fat diets cause heart disease and obesity!" No buddy, refined high PUFA vegetable oils do. Do that same study with ghee or coconut oil and it probably will be remarkably different. Or, even scarier, use REAL FOOD high in fat, like egg yolks and bone marrow. But that wouldn't give them the result they want...sigh.

Last edited by ChocoTaco369; 05-28-2013 at 07:05 AM.

Don't put your trust in anyone on this forum, including me. You are the key to your own success.

I think we need to understand what "essential" means in this context. It means ONLY that it cannot be produced by the human body.

I don't even think that is proven. I have yet to see any proof showing the human body cannot synthesize omega 3 and omega 6. As far as I'm concerned, this is one of those myths that everyone assumes is true but no one can prove.

Don't put your trust in anyone on this forum, including me. You are the key to your own success.

This is a summary. Secondary information. It is essentially a textbook excerpt. I'm talking about an actual study - primary information - showing the human body cannot do this. The information that surrounds "EFA's" seem to be more myth than fact.

Essential Fatty Acids - Essential fatty acids are, according to the textbooks, linoleic acid and alpha linolenic acid, and they are supposed to have the status of "vitamins," which must be taken in the diet to make life possible. However, we are able to synthesize our own unsaturated fats when we don't eat the "EFA," so they are not "essential." The term thus appears to be a misnomer.